European Wilderness Network Hohe Tauern Wilderness
2018 Š European Wilderness Society www.wilderness-society.org
European Wilderness Network
Hohe Tauern Wilderness, Austria The Hohe Tauern Wilderness is located in the south-western part of National Park Hohe Tauern, Salzburg. The Hohe Tauern Wilderness is a landscape that once covered the Alps after the last ice age, around 12 000 years ago. It is a large contiguous piece of Wilderness and it includes several important habitats types, such as abandoned alpine pastures, bare rocks, glaciers and freshly exposed land after glacier retreat. The preservation of alpine and glaciated Wilderness has been targeted as a priority and the natural rewilding is the main tool for the preservation of Hohe Tauern Wilderness.
Wilderness information
European Wilderness Quality Standard Audit System
Wilderness Uniqueness
Map scale 1 : 1 960 000 Š European Wilderness Society www.wilderness-society.org
6 728 ha
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GOLD
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approx. 5 000
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approx. 1 350 210
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2015 2017 The large contiguous areas of glaciated and post-glaciated landscape with number of unique species like ibex, chamois, and golden eagle
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Wilderness Protected area
80 500 ha
EU
Number of visitors per year to the protected area Number of visitors per year to the Wilderness
Hohe Tauern National Park Hohe Tauern Wilderness Austria
ALIT Y QU
The Hohe Tauern Wilderness was audited in 2015 and 8 456 ha met the Gold Wilderness Quality Standard of which 6 728 ha were certified in 2017. A European Wilderness Quality Standard Renewal-Audit is scheduled for 2025.
Protected area Wilderness Country Size of the protected area Size of the Wilderness First Audit Most Recent Audit
O WILDERNESS S
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Hohe Tauern Wilderness / Austria
Biodiversity In Hohe Tauern Wilderness you find high Alp mountain landscapes, natural complexes and areas of unique mixed and conifer forests, including a desolate wasteland of rock and scree. Nowadays, animals and plants are colonising this new habitat very gradually, especially species from the cold steppes of Central Asia, from the Arctic region and the Siberian tundra. The plant cover in alpine meadows is lush, but extremely patchy and limited to ice-free rocky outcrops in the upper nival zone. It consists of a handful of vascular plant species, mosses, lichens and algae. A specialised group of algae even thrives on the snow surface. In the sub-nival zone, the sparse vegetation is again dominated by mosses and lichens, with some interspersed vascular plants that grow in cushions and tiny carpets. In the lowest part of the alpine zone, shrubs like alpine rose, bilberry and cowberry invade the grasslands. Hohe Tauern Wilderness is home to mountainous animal species like chamois, ibex, bearded and griffon vultures, and golden eagle.
Wilderness Tourism Experience Hiking from the valley up into the glacier-crowned summit region is a unique opportunity to experience in Hohe Tauern Wilderness. The experience is comparable with a trip to the Arctic – with all climate zones from Central Europe to the Polar region. It provides an unforgettable experience especially in summer with its high mountain Wilderness and peaks over 3 000 m, glaciers, glacial streams, waterfalls, mountain lakes, alpine grasslands and its centuries-old maintained pastures. A very special experience is to discover the Wilderness, accompanied by a Wilderness ranger. In summer (from July to September) a wide range of guided tours and trekking tours, lasting from a half-day up to several days, are offered on a regular basis.
Contact Hohe Tauern Wilderness Hohe Tauern National Park Nationalparkverwaltung 5730 Mittersill, Austria Phone: +43 6562 40849-0 Website: www.hohetauern.at
Š European Wilderness Society www.wilderness-society.org
European Wilderness Society
Founded on more than 20 years of Wilderness work by our members, the European Wilderness Society is the only Pan-European, Wilderness and environmental advocacy non-profit, non-government organisation. It has a dedicated multi-cultural and experienced team of Wilderness and wildlife specialists, nature conservationists, researchers and scientists, tourism experts, marketing and business professionals, legal advisors and Wilderness advocates, whose mission is to: XX XX XX XX
identify designate steward promote
Europe’s last Wilderness, WILDCoasts, WILDForests, WILDIslands and WILDRivers. Here non-human intervention leads to open-ended, dynamic processes. This is conveyed through a range of projects that facilitate Wilderness knowledge exchange, including education, culture and science, from local community through to scientific and governmental level.
European Wilderness Network
The European Wilderness Network connects Europe’s wildest places. Certified by the European Wilderness Quality and Audit System, these unique areas host diverse wild ecosystems governed by dynamic open-ended processes, with no or minimum human-intervention. The Network includes, for example, Europe’s last primeval beech forests, the arctic tundra, and mountain landscapes in different climate conditions. It aims to promote Europe’s last Wilderness, WILDCoasts, WILDForests, WILDIslands and WILDRivers, with a comprehensive marketing strategy. The European Wilderness Network offers a platform to share Wilderness Stewardship best-practice examples and Wilderness research. It connects like-minded Wilderness managers and advocates and fosters the exchange of ideas and knowledge across Europe and the world through the European Wilderness Exchange Programme. For more information please see http://european-wilderness.network
European Wilderness Society Registration number / ZVR Zahl: 305471009 Registered in Austria Dechant-Franz-Fuchs Str. 5 | A-5580 Tamsweg EU Transparency registration number: 706136913777-83
www.wilderness-society.org